Environmental communications

Just as we were about to hit ‘publish’ on this blog, the UK media announced that Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, has hinted at a total ban on plastic drinking straws. The Marine Conservation Society estimates the UK uses 8.5 billion straws every year, which are among the top 10 items found in beach clean-ups. Gove, when asked by the Daily Telegraph if he would prohibit these ephemeral, non-essentials, replied, “Watch this space”.

Until relatively recently, plastic was perceived by most as a ‘miracle material’ – cheap to produce, lightweight, strong, and incredibly durable: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) takes 400 years to naturally decompose – yet plastic is still used in nearly every industry across the globe. We have gorged ourselves with the fossil fuel-derived material so much that now it’s impossible not to see it quite literally float up in our faces. Plastic peppers our shores, and forms such as The Great Pacific Garbage the size of Texas (a conservative estimate). Plastic has even climbed up the food chain to end up in our food. Personally speaking, I would not be surprised if, in a few years’ time, we discover that several newly-prevalent health conditions are linked to (if not caused by) our exposure to the stuff. Sadly, our indulgence has caught up with us, and only now have we realised the extent of the problem. Unlike cardboard or wooden packaging, no single piece of plastic ever made has decomposed since it started rolling off production lines. Watch this 1970s TV commercial if you’re in any doubt as to how attitudes to plastic have changed…!

One particular form of the ‘eternal stuff’ is being particularly condemned: the plastic bottle. The Guardian has reported that in the UK we buy 1 million plastic bottles a minute, with UK households recycling 16 million of them a day. Although we may think that we’re doing our job here, National Geographic states only 9% of plastic bottles are recycled. However, signs point to there being no slow down in plastic usage, with the plastic decomposition clock constantly being reset. We are only just beginning to understand how plastic waste is impacting systems and their functions around our beautiful planet. Forbes has reported that by 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic in weight than fish! Plastic waste that reaches our seas every year can kill as many as 1 million sea creatures, according to UNESCO. And it’s not just sea creatures ingesting this toxic waste. A recent study by Ghent University in Belgium has found that people who regularly eat seafood ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic a year, the long-term effects of which are unknown. And closer to home, Plymouth University found one-third of all fish caught in the UK contained tiny pieces of plastic.

This self-inflicted damage to our planet and our health lit a growing fire beneath us – Glastonbury, for one, has banned plastic bottles beyond 2019. Below are just a few of the businesses looking to reduce plastic.

Out with the New, in with the Old: Let’s get back to Glass!

SodaStream – whilst it may be condemned by the sugar lobby, at least offers an alternative to buying multiple packages for its fizzy drinks. CEO Daniel Birnbaum says that, until now, there was no other material to contain the fizzy stuff, but claims its own reusable plastic bottle can replace 2,000 single-use ones. The company also offers glass bottles, which last longer and are easier to clean. For Parisians – the government in Paris has introduced public sparkling water fountains to discourage those from buying it bottled – just don’t forget your lemon!

Canadian social enterprise, The Plastic Bank, is replacing single-use plastic bottles with cardboard instead, which, even if it doesn’t get recycled, takes much less time to biodegrade. Pound for pound, plastic can be more valuable than steel. As most people are aware, the most polluted places are home to the most disadvantaged people. The Plastic Bank encourages these communities to return plastic to the bank in exchange for money.

Whilst we’ve been consciously saving money by making our own meals, we’ve actually been letting the planet down by using Ziplock bags to save space in our rucksack. (I have often marvelled why it’s impossible to buy a tier of paper bags tied together by a string – after all, the local bakery has them in multiples!) Blue Avocado has produced reusable snack bags for food and other items, made from recycled plastic bottles. Incidentally, the soft drinks industry has insisted that consumers will not accept recycled plastic if it’s opaque. We (and surely 99% of anyone with a conscience) argue to the contrary. It’ll just take some explaining and education.

A company that has long been conscious of health, Whole Foods seems to be leading the way in plastic reduction on the [high end] high street. In 2008, it swapped plastic bags for paper, which had a knock-on educational impact on customers. In addition, it also offers biodegradable alternatives for plates, cutlery and take-out items.

Let’s Co-operate to Ameliorate

As with any movement that requires massive financial and behavioural shifts, we’ll need to corporate around the globe to make change happen. Fortunately, experts such as as our ‘global treasures’, Sir David Attenborough (whose Blue Planet II series was set to ‘touch’ a billion people, as we marvelled in this blog), can have a big impact on our consciousness, and help educate the next generations who are saying ‘Enough!’ Even The Queen has also sought to reduce plastic straw usage at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

By using a combination of ‘law and nudge’, we will get there, but writing this as an environmental science graduate, it won’t happen fast because plastic’s still so cheap to produce.

Here are some ways YOU can cut down on plastic usage via the NGO, Greenpeace:

Carry a reusable bottle. This also is a great way to save money! Here’s a link to where you can fill your bottle up in the UK.

Reject the straws. Do you really need a straw for that drink? If you’re a restauranteur / bar owner, think about replacing plastic straws with cardboard ones.

Carry a reusable coffee cup: 2.5 billion coffee cups which are thrown away every year in the UK because a thin layer of plastic is laminated onto the paper, making them difficult to recycle – less than 1 in 400 are recycled. A lot of coffee shops now offer a discount if you bring your own cup, too!

Try to avoid excess packaging for fewer food miles and more paper bags. Better yet, try to shop at your local grocer. Additionally, supermarkets need to also look into reducing their packaging.

Don’t use plastic cutlery. When you’re on the go, these are convenient (and free), but look into taking along a reusable fork or even a spork.

Trade in shop-bought milk for your milkman’s in a traditional glass bottle. Believe it or not, milkmen still exist – find your local one here.

Avoid microbeads. The good news is, the UK has banned these from 2018, however some may still be on the shelves, so be sure to check for polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and nylon.

Remember your reusable bag. Figures show that since the plastic bag charge was introduced in England, there’s been a massive 85% drop in their use.

As specialists in communicating on the subject of environmental sustainability, the Curious PR team was thrilled to receive an invitation to the press preview of the latest BBC blockbuster, Planet Earth II, and even more excited to get to meet none other than its world-famous presenter, Sir David Attenborough. Having raced across town by tube to The Soho Hotel, and signed the required secrecy forms, we were ushered into a well set-up press room where I found Sir David, at the impressive age of 91, to be no less engaging and interesting than the man I was lucky enough to meet as a child at Christmas parties. (In those days, I admit I was just as excited about beating the other children to the mountain of tangerines which stood unguarded by distracted adults.)

Reaching such an impressive age, it’s not surprising that Sir David didn’t venture into the field to film the series’ often perilous locations; the uninhabited, rocky island of Zavodovski, near Antartica, for instance, that is home to around 2M penguins (and not much else). Yet it was a fitting and symbolic gesture to have him present the introduction from the basket of a hot air balloon as it floated silently above snow covered mountains; here was a man with an unrivalled view of the only life-yielding planet in our solar system. It’s a planet that’s moving through a period of flux whereby extinctions happen at a rate of around 150-200 per day (a thousand times the ‘background’ level according to the UN). Such changes are largely thanks to an exponentially growing human population, not to mention human-influenced climate change. By contrast, this serene scene reflected Attenborough’s all-encompassing knowledge about our blue and green planet, setting the tone for what could be his last major series.

The Power of Wildlife Series: To deliver ‘A universal truth’– Hans Zimmer

Sitting with pens poised in the darkened cinema, we were treated to excerpts from the series’ Islands episode, (islands being notable for their unique and fragile ecosystems). After which, a panel made up of key people behind the series, answered questions, amongst them, the man behind its powerful music score, film composer, Hans Zimmer of Gladiator, Pirates Of The Caribbean, and Rain Man fame.

For Zimmer, Planet Earth II was a first foray into wildlife documentaries – a distinct departure from the ZAP! POW! special effect movies for which he is latterly known. It turns out he was genuinely awe-inspired by the drama captured in the series’ life-or-death scenes so beautifully, yet, so starkly. A striking example which could easily have been inspired by Hollywood proved that Love – or procreation, perhaps – conquers all. Enter a male sloth, who, upon hearing the call of a female in season, is transformed from the equivalent of the soporific, sofa-bound slob portrayed by Brad Pitt’s character in Thelma & Louise, into an animal resembling George, the love-struck, love-sick, telescope-toting Dudley Moore character who becomes obsessed after just one sighting of Bo Derek’s Jenny on the beach, in the 1979 romcom, 10. So, from Sunday driver to Ferrari fiend, our wide-eyed, curly-clawed Romeo swims perilously yet undeterred from one side of a turbulent river to the other, in search of his Juliet. Her occasional calls are simply irresistible.

Indeed, Zimmer remarked that he approached the series just as if it was drama: “Superheroes are outside human experience; so is this…. Superheroes are big, but David’s work has more relevance than ever before. All fiction pales in comparison to nature! We should feel humble. It was extraordinary to work on ‘fact’ rather than fiction because it delivers a universal truth.’”

From Email to ‘PeeMail’

But metaphors aside, in terms of the science, when asked what the real coups had been, Tom Hugh-Jones, series producer, pointed to the three years’ work that went into filming the notoriously elusive snow leopard. This particular project involved bringing on board from all over the globe experts on the mating communications of this highly threatened species. Thanks to undercover cameras staged strategically around their habitat, we learn that ‘peemail’ is this cat’s equivalent to a ‘check-in’ on social media; the cats use urine patches to mark out their territory and intentions. The value of such a long term project was made evident when Tom spelled out that most of these scientists had never actually seen the subjects of their intricate studies before. For them, watching the rushes must have been the equivalent of the paparazzi getting the close-up, unguarded shots of the shielded celebrity they’d always hoped to capture on film. From an education point of view, the peemail analogy works perfectly to explain this finely balanced species’ psycho-social world, and provide helpful, context to a species that remains under existential threat.

Do Such Series Matter? Insights and Education Count

But less of the shoulder rubbing, more of the rub: What exactly do these expensive wildlife documentaries have to offer in 2016? Haven’t we seen enough of them, and what’s new? True, they come and go with ever more breath-taking photography made possible by lightening-speed evolution in filming technology. Drones, hidden cameras and mini stabilised cameras have entered the kit bags of today’s documentary film-makers, taking the meaning of undercover filming into new territory. The answer, according to Mike Gunton, Creative Director at the BBC’s Natural History Unit, is that what pushes his team forwards is the ability to gain new insights. He pointed to the fact that authors of scientific journals are now relying on this type of filmed content for evidence; a case of audiovisual eclipsing the written word – as is happening in so many fields.

Drones aside, though, are wildlife documentaries heading to the twilight zone? Where will the next innovations come from? This was a question posed by Gunton in a modest fashion that is arguably typical of we Brits. The technology wish list below indicates there’s still room for innovation. But in our humble opinion, we are far from reaching the twilight. The role of television as a learning tool remains unshaken, and we’d argue now is the time is to push even harder to bring nature at its most vibrant – even shocking – sense into the living rooms of men, women and children all around our planet. Particularly given the shift of our species from rural dweller to city dweller.

Could Sir David have predicted this gargantuan shift when he started filming wildlife 50 years ago, we wondered. As he noted, “Over half the human population lives in cities, and are out of touch with nature, yet we depend on the natural world.” I’m often surprised that many children of the most affluent I see in London have very limited exposure to rural nature. Their world is not so much ‘concrete jungle’ as gold-tipped railings and paved-over garden. These children may have every gadget in town, but they are ‘nature poor’. Yet, as Sir David noted, “We must hang onto our connection with animals, and TV is the best way of linking the two.”

Should we be Wary of a ‘Hidden Agenda’?

Any series such as this, which highlights the rapidity with which species are having to adapt to urbanisation and other human-influenced change, must, by nature, be political with a small ‘p’. Tom Hugh-Jones explained, “Sometimes we wanted to acknowledge ‘campaigns’ – as with the many animals that are having to adapt to cities. We show that whilst some can adapt, most can’t adapt that fast.” Mike Gunton noted, “It was about [capturing] the ecology of the city, not a portrait. The highest concentration of leopards live in Dubai, and prey on domestic animals. Our thermal cameras picked them out like criminals. And in New York, our team followed peregrines, which love to chase pigeons, because skyscrapers mirror cliff tops. That was like filming a Spiderman scene! It’s about drama, but we’ve ben keen not to show the hand of the cinematographer. It should appear to be a ‘live feed.’

Sir David did acknowledge that the BBC is deeply supportive of the producers’ cause: “There is no other broadcast organisation prepared to keep us going for three years. This is surprising, and the BBC did it first, for some reason. It’s very important that TV, which seems so transient, can take an in-depth look at our earth, which is in peril, and which we have to know. It takes devotion and money.”

They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and things look incredibly good for the series’ in terms of audience reach. We were astounded to hear from the press officer that, based on viewing figures for the first Planet Earth series, a billion people on the planet are expected to view some or all of the series at some point. It’s easy to forget living here in Blighty that the BBC has such penetration, globally. Such numbers reflect the scale of Planet Earth II’s influence upon hearts and minds – many of them young minds. As Sir David noted, “The letters I get from kids are totally understanding of the dangers facing us. Sixty years ago, nobody thought extinctions were possible, let alone accelerating.”

How to Future-proof our Planet: Collaboration is All

A final question put to Sir David was, how would he assess the health of the planet versus 10 years ago? In his words, “Never in history has humanity agreed to do something together – except about the ozone layer hole. Twenty years ago, we realised humanity would fry; we took action and the hole is healing. We have wider problems now, and the population growth is bigger. I believe we are on the verge of getting together now. We do have ways of solving [issues]. We just need to collaborate. And we are inching forward, despite people saying it’s all just talk.” Planet Earth 2 proves we can capture the best and worst of what is facing nature on this planet. Our next gargantuan challenge is how to capture the CO2 that’s contributing to climate change.

Technology Wish List of Film-Makers

Noise-cancelling technology to avoid the perils of ‘noises off’, above all aircraft

Being able to film the deep ocean

The ability to film at night

Further Viewing from The Appable Man

The Attenborough App “I’ve been at this game 60 years, filmed by hundreds of cameramen. The app is visitable free ,and can be searched by subject and species. There are thousands to choose from.”

Curious PR founder, Hannah Kapff, was recently asked to submit an opinion piece for a PR media title, which got her reflecting on what she does and why…

‘During my years as a broadcast journalist, I was often told I should consider working in PR, but never felt it would provide the same level of ‘buzz’. And if you’re willing to get up each day at 3.30am to make breakfast news programming, you’re clearly someone who’ll jump through hoops to get it!

Yet, when the opportunity to work in healthcare comms (soon followed by sustainability comms) I jumped at it. Why? Because I knew I’d find satisfaction working in science, having always had a passion for it since childhood. Besides, moving to PR meant an end to my nocturnal existence where the occasional supper with friends was spent realising the hours of sleep I’d manage were falling away like sand through the proverbial hour glass. PR also meant a move towards project work – rather than throwing the day’s work in the recycling bin at the end of the day – not even as useful as fish n chip wrapping!

I’d always found science and medicine sexy, and as a 13 year old, I was volunteering for a charity that championed safer food for children. Indeed, being technical yet multi-factorial, health and environmental comms aren’t a million miles away from business news. Both require a broad understanding of the issues at stake, the ability to conduct detailed research, and turn facts or news into interesting, meaningful content that will resonate with the right audiences.

Yet, after 9 years in comms, and probably because I studied environmental science at university, I still feel frustrated by the fact health is viewed and managed as a separate entity to the environment in which we live, whereas the two are intimately intertwined.

Take the UK, which is typical of a highly-industrialised, Western society in that it sees obesity, diabetes, anxiety, loneliness and depression at epidemic levels, with life expectancy for many now falling – despite sophisticated medical breakthroughs.

BREAKING THE SILOS

The interconnections between health and environment can be seen clearly in the care sector, which cannot operate without the NHS or vice versa. Indeed, failure to join them up properly led yet again to last winter’s hospitals crisis, and saw the distasteful term ‘bed blocker’ enter the media lexicon.

When I think about ‘environment’, I am thinking of the planet, but also about the fact the 2011 census revealed a staggering 4M old people living in their own home, with limited day-to-day activities due to a longstanding health condition or disability.

This is a situation that has worsened fast. Hundreds lack basic – let alone compassionate – care, existing in splendid isolation amid ‘too busy to care’ communities. The impact on family members as well as society can be profound: the OECD recently found 15% of the UK’s over-50s acting as informal carers, with many of them battling their own health problems. All this despite the fact ageing is, by definition, predictable.

THINK HOLISTICALLY, PLAN AHEAD

Proper, joined-up thinking requires health prevention, which can be vastly cheaper than treatment. This is where education and strategic comms come in.

On the whole, the will is there to improve the health of those most in need or at risk, but the right messages need to be targeted at the right audiences in motivating ways – not through ‘preaching’ or messages that are de-contextualised.

I get a buzz when healthcare professionals start thinking about issues and solutions in different ways, and realising patients and the economy can both benefit from one option over another.

I also enjoy communicating through periods of change. For sure, change is a given. And if nations can plan their hosting of the World Cup decades ahead, then surely our healthcare needs – and environment – can be planned for, too!’